CBS's 'Big Brother 6' to premiere July 7, feature new two-story house

By Reality TV World staff, 05/09/2005

CBS announced Friday that the sixth edition of its popular Big Brother reality series will premiere on Thursday, July 7 at 8PM ET/PT. The tentpole of a Summer 2005 reality show lineup that will see the network broadcast six hours of reality programming a week, Big Brother 6 will air also air on Tuesdays at 9PM ET/PT and Saturdays at 8PM ET/PT.

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As in previous years, the newly married Julie Chen will host the Thursday broadcasts that will feature the live eviction of one of the houseguests.

In addition to Big Brother 6, CBS's summer programming lineup will also include thrice-weekly broadcasts of Rock Star: INXS, a new American Idol-like talent search series created by Survivor and The Apprentice producer Mark Burnett, and weekly broadcasts of Fire Me... Please and The Cut, a Project Runway-like fashion competition series hosted by Tommy Hilfiger.

Like other recent editions of the long-running franchise, Big Brother 6 will feature several changes and twists intended to keep the show fresh. Although CBS isn't yet revealing the details of most of those changes, they couldn't keep one very obvious change secret -- the fact that shortly after last summer's Big Brother 5 concluded, the network demolished the increasingly-stale CBS backlot building that had served as the Big Brother house for the show's first five seasons.

With a new CBS office building having been constructed on the Big Brother house's old location, Big Brother 6 will feature a new two-story house constructed on the site of Yes, Dear's former studio space. While the new loft-like layout will open up new production possibilities, the house will still have a backyard and include a pool that's nearly twice as big as that of the old house.

"We've had a chance to improve on the whole layout," executive producer Arnold Shapiro told Daily Variety. "Our cameras will be able to get real aerial shots. It will definitely look and feel different, maybe a little more like a loft space," added executive producer Allison Grodner.

While the producers aren't yet revealing the details of any additional changes, Grodner confirms that "it's safe to say there are surprises and new things."

Similar to what it did with last summer's Big Brother 5/The Amazing Race 5 Tuesday night reality block, CBS will also attempt to use Big Brother to boost the prospects of Rock Star, its other big multi-night summer reality series. Hoping that Rock Star will be able to join Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother as the network's fourth successful reality franchise, CBS will air Rock Star's hour-long weekly performance shows in the Tuesday 10PM ET/PT post-Big Brother time period, with Star's two other half-hour broadcasts airing Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:30PM ET/PT.

As it has since Big Brother 2, Big Brother 6 will be produced by Arnold Shapiro & Allison Grodner Productions, in association with Endemol U.S.A.